Apple might have to face off against federal antitrust regulators once again, but not for anticompetitive eBook business practices. According to a number of sources, Apple’s digital music business is now under the microscope. Just last month Apple lost its final appeal in federal court for the ebook price fixing case. Its $450 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice won’t be reversed. That case established Apple’s willingness to engage in illegal behavior to gain an unfair advantage over competitors. With the launch of Apple Music, the World’s most valuable company is now in direct competition with streaming music services like Spotify Ltd. As a competitor, the way Apple treats its rivals is now being closely scrutinized.

Apple takes 30 percent of every dollar earned from the sales of digital goods and services on the iOS platform. That includes monthly subscription fees, such as Spotify Premium. Unlimited streaming music plans are typically set at $9.99 per month. Apple Music launched with that price point, matching most of its competitors. Spotify, and every other streaming music company with an iOS app, has to decide how to handle the 30 percent Apple tax. They can continue to charge $9.99, and eat the loss, or they can pass that fee along to the customer. Either way, it puts them at a disadvantage. While this is surely an aggravating situation for streaming music executives, it’s not what is likely to get Apple in trouble. Apple’s iOS ecosystem advantage isn’t the problem. It’s the way it uses that advantage that could be deemed anticompetitive.

Both Apple and Google take 30 percent cuts of digital sales on their respective platforms. Apple, however, has additional stipulations that some would characterize as being unnecessarily restrictive. Under the terms of the App Store Developer Agreement, businesses are not permitted to advertise their existence on other platforms within their iOS app. If consumers can make purchases directly through the business’ website, they won’t learn about it through the iOS app. That, too, is forbidden by Apple. Companies aren’t allowed to link to their own websites from within their app for any reason.

Last week, Spotify began emailing customers to try to raise awareness about the cost savings available to those who switch over to Spotify.com billing. Opting to pass Apple’s surcharge along to the customer, Spotify Premium’s monthly $12.99 fee through iTunes is less attractive than Apple Music’s $9.99 cost. Preventing Spotify from informing customers that they charge $9.99 on Spotify.com is what some consider to be an abuse of power by Apple.

At this time, there’s no formal investigation by the FTC, but they are meeting with concerned parties, and giving the situation a closer look. If it’s determined that this behavior is indeed illegal, it could have ramifications beyond streaming music.

Amazon.com, Inc. faces similar hurdles with its Amazon Kindle iOS app, which competes with Apple’s own eBook platform. Amazon has attempted several workarounds in the past, but as of right now, it’s settled with allowing customers to add book titles to a wish list, and hoping that customers remember to login to Amazon.com to complete the purchase. An investigation into Apple’s business practices would almost certainly embolden Amazon to press for an investigation into Apple’s eBook practices, which is something that Apple already has 450 million reasons to want to avoid.

photo credit: John Taylor via photopin (license)